Ron May, considered a reporting staple in Chicago’s tech and Media happenings, sends out a newsletter on the wheelings and dealings and who’s who in the Windy City, and if you ever listen to Ron talking about big business moguls and shady politicians, you’d be quick to see that Ron probably considers Chicago windy for other reasons than the weather.
As luck would have it, Chicago also happens to be the home town of Groupon and a number of other daily deals companies, so Ron often makes mention of what’s going on in the industry and a lot of what he says are real gems and worth sharing. Just so you know Ron May pulls no punches and he calls it as he sees it.
Last week when Yipit released its report on Groupon’s supposed declining numbers Ron said:
Andrew Mason tells writer Erick Schonfeld that comScore’s traffic numbers are bullsh** — if he’s going to curse, maybe he should hire Weinstein after all; Groupon Inc. President and Chief Operating Officer Rob Solomon is leaving — what so soon?! and he was only there a year!
Wow, kind of hard to imagine any foul language coming out of Groupon CEO’s cute cherub face, but it was probably well suited to Yipit’s report.
Tonight Ron does a one word critique of Bizydeal that just launched in Chicago this week, offering daily deals with a focus on small businesses.
Gary Slack has launched his Groupon knock-off site: www.bizydeal.com and it is just ridiculous. The deal was offered on 3/28 and it is still up even though they already sold the used van which they bought to sell — go figure! They still have seven days left so they are milking it for all it is worth. Here is what the site says:
“$11,700 for one of the hottest-selling, most fuel-efficient small business cargo vans: 2011 XLT Ford Transit Connect (50% off a $23,400 value)”
Seems like a van would be just the thing to market to a small business, especially if you have a catering or delivery service but like I said Ron calls it as he sees it and his viewpoint is often interesting to say the least.
You can read more about Ron May’s views on Chicago (and pretty much everything else) as well as sign up for the May Report here.
